Carrier air crew converge at the flight deck of USS Theodore Roosevelt to guide operating aircraft

Navies in the western Pacific, including China and nine Southeast Asian countries, have been working on a code of unexpected encounters (CUES) at sea to avoid conflict.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt's presence in the South China Sea comes days after China carried out massive air and naval drills in the area – in what some analysts described as an unusually large display of Beijing's growing naval might.

Chinese state media said the exercises were centred on the aircraft carrier Liaoning, with warships combining from the North, East and South Sea fleets.

An F18 fighter prepares to take off at the flight deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt

Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming told the South China Morning Post: “China wants to show the outside world its determination to defend the fruits of its economic reforms over the past 40 years.

“Like the US, China’s military might is one of the government’s political tools to protect the country’s national interests.”

Almost 90 per cent of the South China Sea has been declared sovereign territory by Beijing under its arbitrary “Nine Dash Line” which extends some 1,243 miles from its mainland.

This is despite an international court of arbitration rejecting its ambitious claims in 2016.

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Vietnam, The Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei are among the nations asserting territorial claims over the sea based on UN conventions.

The convergence also comes as tensions rise between Beijing and Washington over a looming trade tariff “war”.

Tensions between the United States and China over trade and has been stepped up of late, with fear in the region that the South China Sea, which is vital to global trade, could one day become a battleground between the two rival powers.

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